Tag: Andrew Vasquez

Looking at Minnesota Twins drafts this century

With the June Amateur Free Agent draft just a month or so away maybe it is time to look back and see who the Twins have drafted this century that has made an impact on the Minnesota Twins major league team. We all know that very few prospects make it to the big leagues and even fewer are stars, here is how the Twins have fared. Keep this in mind before you get overly excited about the Twins picks in this years drafts.

 

Twins draft choices since 2000

 

2000 draft – 52 drafted, 30 signed and 5 put on a Minnesota Twins uniform

Best Twins player – Jason Kubel (OF) was a 2nd round selection picked out of high school and debuted on August 31, 2004 and had a career WAR of 4.1. RETIRED

Wore a Twins uniform briefly – Josh Rabe (OF), J.D. Durbin (RHP), Adam Johnson RHP was 1st rounder and second pick overall) and Jason Miller (LHP)

2001 draft – 50 drafted, 33 signed, 3 put on a Minnesota Twins uniform and 1 played in big leagues for another team

Joe Mauer

Best Twins players – Joe Mauer (C) a Minnesota native was the number one overall pick out of Cretin High School and he debuted on April 5, 2004 and played with Minnesota throughout his career that ended after the 2018 season. Won an MVP, six time All-Star, five time Silver Slugger, three time Batting Champion and three time Gold Glove winner. Career WAR of 55.0. RETIRED

Best Twins players – Nick Blackburn was a collegiate right-handed pitcher drafted in round 29 and debuted on September 7, 2007. Blackburn pitched his entire career for the Twins from 2007-2012. RETIRED with a 3.1 career WAR.

Wore a Twins uniform briefly –  Jose Morales (drafted as a shortstop but switched to catcher).

Played in big leagues for another team – Kevin Cameron (RHP).

Continue reading Looking at Minnesota Twins drafts this century

Twins minor league players of the week are Cabbage & Graterol

Trey Cabbage

Low A Cedar Rapids Kernels outfielder Trey Cabbage and AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos right-handed pitcher Brusdar Graterol are the Twins minor league Player and Pitcher of the Week.

The soon to be 22 year old Cabbage hit .333 in 27 plate appearances this past week with a triple, three home runs, nine RBI and scored eight times. Cabbage also walked six times and struck out the same number of times. Cabbage was drafted by the Twins in the fourth round of the 2015 June Amateur Draft out of Grainger High School in Rutledge, Tennessee as a third baseman but is currently playing corner outfield positions. Andrew Vasquez a LHP remains the only player drafted by the Twins in 2015 to make an appearance in the big leagues to this point. I would expect that Cabbage will be moving up to the A+ Miracles soon.

Brusdar Graterol

Graterol made the start for the Blue Wahoos on Tuesday at Biloxi, pitching 7 shutout innings with one hit, one walk and eight strikeouts. The 20-year-old Calabozo, Venezuela native has gone 1-0, 0.52 ERA (17.1 IP, 1 ER) with six walks, 18 strikeouts and a .121 opponent batting average in three starts for the Wahoos this season.

According to MLB Pipeline Graterol is the Twins third best overall prospect and top pitching prospect who is on a fast track to Minnesota. The Twins signed Graterol out of Venezuela when he was 16 years old for $150,000 as part of their 2014 international class. He was just a teen throwing in the high 80s at the time, nothing special. In February of 2015, they assigned him to the Dominican Summer League. He lasted four starts until he tore his UCL and underwent Tommy John surgery. Here is the rest of the story.

 

Twins Minor League Report, 4-21-19

 

 

 

Twins minor league players of the week – Blankenhorn & Smeltzer

Travis Blankenhorn

The first 2019 Twins position player of the week is A+ Fort Myers Miracles infielder Travis Blankenhorn. Blankenhorn who is playing his fifth season of pro ball appeared in six games this past week hitting .300 with 6 hits in 24 PA’s including a double, a home run and 2 RBI. Blankenhorn also walked four times.  The 22-year-old Blankenhorn has already played second and third base as well as the left field this season.

Travis Blankenhorn was the Minnesota Twins third round draft choice in the 2015 June amateur draft. So far the only Twins draft choice to reach the big leagues from that draft is 32nd round selection LHP  Andrew Vasquez.

Devin Smeltzer

The first 2019 Twins pitcher of the week is LHP Devin Smeltzer of the AA Pensacola Blue Wahoos. In his second start of the 2019 season Smeltzer threw 8.1 shutout innings allowing just 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 8 and earning the win on just 85 pitches (65 strikes). So far this season Smeltzer is 2-0 in 3 starts and has allowed just one earned run in 18 innings on 9 hits, 3 walks, and 21 strikeouts.

Devin Smeltzer was a Los Angeles Dodgers 5th round pick in the 2016 June Amateur draft and traded to Minnesota along with outfielder Luke Raley, second baseman Logan Forsythe in the Brian Dozier deal on July 31, 2018. The Twins used Smeltzer in relief last season at Chattanooga after acquiring him from the Dodgers but this season he is doing what he likes best and that is starting.

Twins Minor League Report, 4-14-19

What have the last ten years of Twins drafts produced

In the last ten years the Twins have had four winning seasons and made the playoffs three times but in those seven play-off games their record is 0-7. So why the dry spell after the Twins had winning teams in 7 of 9 years before that? 

If you look at the Twins drafts from 2009 thru current you might find your answer. The way baseball works you can’t expect your draft choices to produce in the big leagues for three or four years and it has been that way since who knows when. That baffles me because the NFL takes it players straight out of college, some after just three seasons and the next year they are professionals in the NFL. The NBA does it the same way but takes the cream of the crop college players after just one collegiate season and moves them to the pros. Baseball on the other hand is convinced that players out of high school or college can’t play in the big leagues. Oh, a handful of them have but for the most part you have to spend a few years in the minors and work you way up the ladder. 

Continue reading What have the last ten years of Twins drafts produced

Twins minor league players of the week – Michael Davis & Andrew Vasquez

The Twins have named A- Cedar Rapids infielder Michael Davis and Twins left-handed pitcher Andrew Vasquez Twins minor league Player of the Week and minor league Pitcher of the Week.

Michael Davis

In seven games for the Kernels, Davis hit .464 (13-for-28) with one double, one triple, three home runs and 13 RBI. The Bedford, Texas native was drafted by the Twins
in the 24th round of the 2018 First-Year Player Draft out of Texas Tech. Davis appeared in just three games for Elizabethton where he was 6 for 14 with a home run before being bumped up to Cedar Rapids where he has appeared in 42 games and is hitting .294 with 9 home runs and 28 RBI  and playing primarily shortstop.

Prior to getting called up by the Twins, Vasquez appeared in three games for the Red Wings, pitching 4.1 scoreless innings with three walks and 10 strikeouts. The 6’6″ soon-to-be 25 year-old lefty from Rancho Cucamonga, California was drafted by the Twins in the 32nd round of the 2015 First-Year Player Draft. 2018 was a breakout year for Vasquez who started the season with the A+ Miracle where he struck out 37 in 32.2 innings. Then when the Twins bumped him up to AA Chattanooga he really showed something when he struck out 59 batters in just 31 innings and walked just four. The walk ratio was the big surprise because he has had some control issues in the past. The Twins sent him to AAA Rochester at the end of the season and he appeared in just four games but struck out 12 in just 5.2 innings. The Twins then called him up to Minnesota as a September call-up and made his big league debut on September 1st. Jumping from High A in Ft. Myers to AA, then AAA and then the big leagues in one season is very impressive indeed. It will  be very interesting to see what Vasquez can show us this next month.

Andrew Vasquez in his major league debut on 9/1/2018. Credit to Ricardo Rodriguez of Getty Images

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MLB announced on August 31 that Minnesota Twins Minor League pitcher Alex Banks, who is currently on the roster of the rookie-level Dominican Summer League Twins, has received a 72-game suspension without pay after testing positive for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing substance in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Banks is a 17 year-old right-handed pitcher who was spending his first season in pro ball.

 

Twins Minor League Report 090418

Ft. Myers Miracle have four players named as All-Stars

Florida State League All-Stars were announced yesterday and the Ft. Myers Miracle will have four representatives. Left-handed pitcher Andrew Vasquez, infielder Travis Blankenhorn and outfielders Jimmy Kerrigan and Jaylin Davis.

Andrew Vasquez is 0-1 with a 0.66 ERA in 15 relief appearances, 30 strikeouts and eight walks in 27.1 innings pitched. Vasquez was selected in round 32 of the 2015 June amateur draft.

Jimmy Kerrigan is hitting .289 with six home runs and 21 RBI in 40 games. Kerrigan was signed by Minnesota as a minor league free agent in July 2017.

Jaylin Davis is hitting .273 with four home runs and 11 RBI in 42 games with five outfield assists. Davis was a 24th round selection in the 2015 June amateur draft by the Twins.

Travis Blankenhorn (2nd All-Star selection – Midwest League in 2017 with Low-A Cedar Rapids) is hitting .255 with six home runs and 22 RBI. Blankenhorn was a Twins 3rd round pick in the 2015 June amateur draft.

Andrew Vasquez
Jimmy Kerrigan
Jaylin Davis
Travis Blankenhorn

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